A few days after Doncaster put in a sterling effort against probable title winners Halifax, Sheffield have spanked pretenders Toulouse. Sheffield has the potential to be a hot bed now.



Over to you Albert?

Christ don't bring him back please.

Hey what's happened to him anyway, is he banned again?

Or just spending more time on the golf forum?

You beat me to it! He always posts this kind of drivel whenever any non heartlands team wins a game so i'd be very interested to hear his response!



After 20 minutes it was 0-0 too

I saw enough of Sheffield against Rovers to know what a decent side they are and their results since haven't surprised me at all.



Well done to the Eagles.

Surely a SL club in a major city like Sheffield would offer a lot more to Super League than small Yorkshire places like Castleford or Wakefield. There should obviously be no more Yorkshire teams than there are at the moment so one of these, and probably both, should make way in the next round of franchises.

Without doubt , I'm sure the few hundred Sheffield fans will be happy to know that you are willing to ' bankroll ' their club for ten years until they are in a position to be able to finance thenselves



Well done for your generosity

Disagree to be honest. When they were in SL, Sheffield never reached the level of support that Cas and Wakey both have (despite Sheffield being bigger then both towns combined), and never would IMO.

Isn't there a stat that suggests Cas are the best supported club per population? Add to that the fact that Cas, Wakey and Fev fans all have a shirt of each club at home just in case on has a bit more glory than the other, and we have a well supported small part of Yorkshire.

Yeah, isn't the population only about 30,000? Great club Cas IMO, and to say Sheffield deserve a franchise more would be insane. Cas is an RL hotbed (i.e. no pro football club to 'compete' with for a start). The Eagles will always struggle to build support in the city because of the size and interest in the Owls and Blades.

I honestly beleive without a doubt that Sheffield at CP was the hardest game we have had this season, but to say they deserve a franchise over cas is absoloute nonsense.

I wouldn't have said that. Castleford, and to some extend Wakefield, compete with Leeds United just as much (if not more) than the Rhinos do.



There was a survey out not that long ago that said the Leeds United have one of the highest ratios of season ticket holders from outside their own postcode area out of the 92 league clubs. A large proportion of those fans come from WF.

Sheffield is a football city and always will be,even the ice hockey team is bigger in Sheffield than the Eagles.

Its sad that every time a club has a good win, the debate over their suitability for Super League arises. London Skolars beat Workington recently - second capital franchise anyone???



I think thats a real shame. The Championship/Championship 1 competitions are fantastic and wouldnt it be great if the 1500-2000 averages were doubled in the Championship and more young players were able to develop a full time career in that league?



Im made up we are in Super League but there is more to life in Rugby League than just one division!!!

Sad indeed , it winds me up to death , this only tends to happen for clubs outside the heartlands and damages the competition they are in every time it happens



The Championships could be fantastic competitions if some thought , imagination and a little bit of money was invested into them



Unfortunatley none of that seems to be forthcoming

Totally agree mate. I have enjoyed my thursday night TV viewing much more than most of the SL games!



Hopefully the obsession with franchises will fade and the realisation that clubs can thrive and grow in the championship will hit home?



I hope so

I think Huddersfield gave us a fairly hard match!





There again, in a way I suppose that's Sheffield giving us two hard games.

But as I put on a different thread , how much does having those matches on the TV actually help the clubs themselves ?

I think it lifts the profile and awareness and that can only be a good thing. If profile isnt important then why do companys spend millions for branding in high profile sports?



Surely some people will watch and think it was good so perhaps go?



People percieve things as unimportant if its not on TV - market research in many sports and non sports contexts suggests that.



Plus its a great filip for the club and buzz for the players

Does it ? or is it just hard core RL fans that watch it ?



How important is 2 nd tier RL to people outside the towns of the clubs themselves ? How many of those clubs draw support or sponsorship from outside their own town area ?



Does it help the club ? or does it cost the clubs money ?

I have read elsewhere on here that the viewing figures have been very good.



When crowds are around 1500-2000 the priority isnt really outside the towns, there is plenty of potential in the towns. Sponsorships are hard to come by at the moment especially but being seen on TV does help - research backs that up.



As for the clubs, yes I do think they like it. Ive plenty of mates who play in the 2nd and 3rd tier comps and they love a crack on TV and so do the clubs.



And Im really not sure they do lose money. Ive no evidence to back it up but I think attendances on TV games in those divisions compare well to the same game when not on TV.



In short, a TV deal is great for any sport. Of course it could be better but that could be said of anything

Please don't do thread titles like that, I thought Alice / Albert had sneaked back on while I'm on holiday

Oi You two: you already have a thread to discuss this on

Yes, if Castleford's fans only came from Castleford then this would be the case. But they don't. Just like Aston Villa fans don't only come from Aston (which has a population smaller then Villa Park's capacity). It's a pointless stat.





And if you really believe that, then not only are you a loon but you are sort of disproving your own point about them being well supported, as if it's the same people watching 3 clubs, there aren't that many fans around.